Fundraising tops £10,000 - our Burma school opens!
Kate Dicks November 12th, 2008
A very big thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets and purchased photographs from our online exhibition. We managed to raise over £10,000 towards the school building in Burma, well over our £8,000 target, which means that as well as building the school itself we were able to buy school furniture and some stationery.
Building work started as soon as the first money was donated, so the school was completed ready for the new term. There was a grand opening ceremony on 23rd October, and children, parents and teachers enjoyed a simple lunch of “monhinga” (a local favourite food made with thin, soft rice noodles in a fish based broth) after the ceremony with invited guests from the Township Education Office.
There is still a lot of floodwater in the vicinity of the school, and one thing we have looked into is better irrigation for the land in the area. But, this is proving very difficult as the whole area is wet land. There is also a tidal creek at the back of the school which floods during the rainy season. The village and the school cover a very large area and it will cost a lot for irrigation and drainage, so as an intermediate solution we have a plan to build better flood defences.
We also still need to repair the lane (from the school to the main road), but the Paya Ngotto (North) Primary School is now fully open, and we are looking forward to going out to visit next time we have a member of staff in Yangon.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients, family and friends for supporting our Burma appeal and for helping to make it such a success.
- Burma Appeal , Southeast Asia
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